Rubber glove



.March 30, 1937. s, sMiTH Q 2,075,550

RUBBER GLOVE Filed Feb. 10, 1936 Fig.1 FIq'. Z

I INVEN TOR. [nmso/v 57R1JN @1071 BY ATTORNEYS Patented Mar. 30, 1937 PATENT OFFICE 2,075,550 RUBBER GLOVE Emerson Sterling Smith, Ravenna, Ohio Application February 10, 1936, Serial No. 63,164

i Glaim.

This invention relates to rubber gloves, such as are used by those, who handle electrical conductors. Heretofore, gloves of this character have been made in which substantially all of the surfaces on the back of the hand are in a common plane from the wrist line to the knuckles and both in a. longitudinal and lateral direction. In some instances, the fingers have been bent at an angle to the back of the hand and have had their backs disposed in substantially a common plane. I

have found however, that .such constructions are objectionable because of the fact that an operator, when grasping .a tool, rolls the palm inwardly in both a longitudinal and transverse direction and thereby induces wrinkling in that part of the rubber, which forms the palm of the hand. This not only increases the bulk at a point where it is most inconvenient to the operator, but likewise results in stretched portions which decrease the dielectric properties of the rubber.

An object of my invention is to make a fully formed glove that will eliminate the objections heretofore enumerated without increasing the difiiculty of molding the glove on a form.

Referring now to the drawing, Fig. 1 is a front view of a glove made in accordance with my invention; Fig. 2 is a side view of the glove, and Figs. 3 and 4-. are sections taken on the correspondingly numbered lines in Fig. 1.

The glove which I have illustrated in the drawing has the customary thumb i0 and fingers II which extend in spaced relationship to each other from a gauntlet portion I2. The thumb is positioned in front of the index finger and has its top turned inwardly toward the center of the hand although the outer edge at the thumb base is in alignment with the outer edge of the'index finger.

To facilitate the tool gripping action, the glove is curved convexly in a longitudinal direction from the wrist line to the finger tips and all of the fingers partake of substantially the same curvature. In addition, the back of the glove is curved convexly in a transverse direction across the knuckles at the base of the fingers, as a result of which a tool grip merely necessitates a slight additional bending of the fingers. In addition to the convex curvature of the back across the knuckles, the palm is concaved in a longitudinal and transverse direction as a result of which tools 5 may be gripped without undue wrinkling of the rubber in the palm or stretching of it on the back. To facilitate bending of the fingers, I prefer to make each finger elliptical in cross section, the major axis extending between the sides of the fingers and the minor axis extending from front to back.

The glove is made by dipping a form in a manner that is well "known in this art, care having been exercised to construct the form exactly in accordance with the desired form of glove. The curvature which I have described produces less volume of rubber on the palm than on the back, for the transverse distance of the knuckles at the base of the fingers on the palm is less than that across the same knuckles on the back. The advantage resulting from such arrangement is a material lessening of fatigue to the operator and a maintenance of uniform dielectric strength on all surfaces of the glove.

I claim:

A glove consisting entirely of rubber and having a gauntlet portion, and thumb and finger portions spaced apart, the thumb being disposed (11- 0 rectly in front of the index finger and being inclined laterally and inwardly in a position that corresponds to that which is taken in grasping the handle of a tool and the hand being curved convexly in a longitudinal direction from the wrist line to the finger tips, so as also to conform to the position that normally would be taken in grasping a tool, the palm of the glove being concave and the back of the glove being convex in a transverse direction, whereby the transverse distance at the base of the knuckles on the palm side of the glove is shorter than the corresponding distance on the back of the glove.

EMERSON STERLING SMITH. 45 

